People attending the Morehouse College graduation ceremony Sunday will witness a site rarely seen -- a female receiving a Morehouse diploma.

Mary Cecilia Spivey, Morehouse class of 1933, is one of only a handful of women to ever graduate from the prestigious school, which is now a male-only institution. On Sunday, the school will issue Spivey a new diploma to replace her original one, which was stolen.

From 1929 to 1933, Morehouse had 33 women enrolled as full-time students. Spivey, a teacher who retired from the Atlanta Public School system, is the lone survivor. At the time of her attendance, she was the only female enrolled in day classes alongside men.

In a statement released by the school, Spivey said she didn't mind being the lone female in class.

“What I got from Morehouse I will never forget,” she said. “Morehouse is a place that gave you drive.”

This year’s commencement speakers will be Harvard Law School Professor Charles Ogletree and award-winning journalist and moderator of PBS’s Washington Week Gwen Ifill. Both will receive honorary degrees.

Billye Aaron, a Morehouse trustee and wife of Baseball Hall of Fame member Hank Aaron, also is scheduled to receive an honorary degree.

Of the nearly 500 men expected to graduate, Camron Yarber will finish as valedictorian with a perfect 4.0 grade point average. This year’s two salutatorians -- Lemario Bland and Emmanuel Marish – each has a 3.92 grade point average.

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Two graduation ceremonies at NC Central

North Carolina Central University, for the first time, will hold separate commencement ceremonies for graduate and undergraduate students.

Graduate and professional degrees will be awarded today in McDougald–McLendon Gymnasium. A separate ceremony for undergraduates will be held Saturday morning in O’Kelly–Riddick Stadium.

Today’s commencement speaker will be Dr. Norman B. Anderson, a 1997 NCCU graduate who is chief executive officer of the American Psychological Association. U.S. Rep. and civil rights leader John Lewis, photo above, will address undergraduates on Saturday.

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NC Central professor is Fulbright scholar

Speaking of NC Central, Bob Nowell, an associate professor of English and mass communication, has received a Fulbright foreign scholarship to teach this fall at Vilnius University in Lithuania.

Nowell will teach undergraduate courses and graduate seminars in the Institute of Journalism in Vilnius, the nation’s capital. He also will provide thesis advice to graduate students and help the institute with curriculum development.

The Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government. It provides grants for American students and professors to study and teach in other countries and for foreign students and scholars to do the same in the United States.

“I have been teaching for 37 years, and this is the greatest honor I’ve ever received,” Nowell said in a statement released by the school.

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